Constellation
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:08 pm
The CONSTELLATION was a 4 masted American schooner out of New York with a general cargo, mainly of glasswares of every type and pharmaceuticals, for Guiria, Venezuela. Lacking a local pilot, the captain attempted to sail through the reefs at Blue Cut, but missed by a few hundred yards and lost his ship on 31st July 1943.
Bermuda Philatelic Bureau.
Bermuda SG507A
An interesting book "Bermuda Shipwrecks" by Daniel & Denise Berg covers some 55 wrecks and another vessel shown in the 1986 stamp set described in detail is the CONSTELLATION.
Built in 1918 in Harrington, Maine she was a four masted schooner originally named Sally PERSIS; sold in 1932 to Robert & Royall and renamed CONSTELLATION the plan was to refit her as a floating nautical school.
She was extensively rebuilt with electricity throughout, refrigeration, new plumbing ,a large new galley and sumptuous staterooms. Unfortunately there seems to have been little interest in this type of sailing education and she was sold a year later, she made a few short trips and then was laid up in New York until 1942. When demand for any type of vessel grew and Constellation was converted back into a cargo carrier.
She left on her first wartime trip in the Spring of 1942 carrying 2,000tons of general cargo including 700 cases of Scotch whisky, drug ampules and a large deck load of bagged cement.
Not long after leaving New York her steam pumps broke down and she began to take in water , despite hand pumping for several days these pumps could not keep up and in a dead calm she was driven onto rocks off the west coast of Bermuda by the strong current.
Constellation was a total loss although the US Navy were able to save the Whisky!
Today she is lying on a coral bed in some 25~30 feet of water with a huge pile of cement bags, now hardened piled up into a heap with bottles of nail varnish, ceramic tiles and yoyos scattered all around.
Peter Bolton (Ship Stamp Society)
Bermuda Philatelic Bureau.
Bermuda SG507A
An interesting book "Bermuda Shipwrecks" by Daniel & Denise Berg covers some 55 wrecks and another vessel shown in the 1986 stamp set described in detail is the CONSTELLATION.
Built in 1918 in Harrington, Maine she was a four masted schooner originally named Sally PERSIS; sold in 1932 to Robert & Royall and renamed CONSTELLATION the plan was to refit her as a floating nautical school.
She was extensively rebuilt with electricity throughout, refrigeration, new plumbing ,a large new galley and sumptuous staterooms. Unfortunately there seems to have been little interest in this type of sailing education and she was sold a year later, she made a few short trips and then was laid up in New York until 1942. When demand for any type of vessel grew and Constellation was converted back into a cargo carrier.
She left on her first wartime trip in the Spring of 1942 carrying 2,000tons of general cargo including 700 cases of Scotch whisky, drug ampules and a large deck load of bagged cement.
Not long after leaving New York her steam pumps broke down and she began to take in water , despite hand pumping for several days these pumps could not keep up and in a dead calm she was driven onto rocks off the west coast of Bermuda by the strong current.
Constellation was a total loss although the US Navy were able to save the Whisky!
Today she is lying on a coral bed in some 25~30 feet of water with a huge pile of cement bags, now hardened piled up into a heap with bottles of nail varnish, ceramic tiles and yoyos scattered all around.
Peter Bolton (Ship Stamp Society)